Santa feels the heat as Lapland buckles under record-breaking heatwave

“Make sure that the reindeer has plenty of water – and don’t forget to drink a glass every hour,” Santa reminds a ELF team to make gifts while swinging in a record wave of Lapland for the next Christmas.

Not every day when the father found briefing about the dangers of sunstrokes to his elves, but this summer, the North Finland saw that temperatures remained around 30 ° C for days.

As for Santa Claus, most of the day will remain inside – the bright red costume decorated with fur is very hot.

“When the air starts to cool, I go to swim in the lake in the forest after 18:00,” he says.

While the workshop in Rovaniemi, Christmas, adapts to cheerful flexibility, the unusual heat in the Arctic is a serious issue – and scientists point to climate change as guilty.

After an unusual cold and rainy spring and the beginning of summer, the entire Finland, including 500km (310 miles) on the north -polar circle in the north of Lapland, suddenly caught a constant hot air.

Until July 25, the heat wave in Rovaniemi will last for 15 days.

In Finland, a heat wave is defined as a period of at least three days when the daily maximum temperature exceeds 25C.

Jaakko Savela, Meteorology Specialist of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, explains that the temperatures over 30C are extremely rare in Lapland, where heat waves are extraordinary.

“Finland Lapland is a similar long heat wave in 1972,” says Savela. However, even this lasted only 12 to 14 days depending on the exact location.

“The records are broken.”

Not only Rovaniemi held by scorching temperatures. A few other air stations in Lapland have recorded the longest hot waves since the recording began.

Heatwave’s highest temperature was measured in Ylornio and Sodankylä in two places at the beginning of this week. This is about 10C of the seasonal average for Lapland.

Heatwave caused renewed concern about the acceleration rate of climate change in the North Pole, which warms up four to five times faster than the rest of the world.

Davela says that this special, long heat wave is not caused by direct climate change. However, “Climate change had an effect: without it, the temperatures in the last two weeks would be lower”.

Prof Jeff Weller, the Head of Oulu University, accepts.

In summer and winter, heat waves and excessive weather events have become so common that they only stem from the basic changes in the climate system.

“All over the world, climate change manifests itself in extreme hot and excessive rainfall,” Prof Weller says. “The fingerprint of climate change is on us.”

According to the UN’s inter -government climate change panel, heat waves become more common due to human -based climate change.

He said that the extremely hot air will be more often – and more often as the planet continues to warm up.

Excessive heat also affects Lapland’s famous reindeer.

He was celebrated as the sides of Santa at Christmas around the world, where Ren deer wanders freely between Forest and Fells. However, because they are hunted by mosquitoes developing in hot weather, the reindeer now escapes to the roads and villages in the quest for relaxation.

“The only option for Ren deer will be to go to the higher, windy heights, but the highest height in Fen Lapland is only 1,000 meters (3,300 ft), Prof said Prof Weller.

He adds that “Ren deer may have to build large stables to provide shadow to the animals of the shepherd shepherds,” as the Extreme and longer heat waves will be more frequent in the future in the future.

The struggling is not only Santa and his reindeer. Lapland is traditionally known as a cool tourism center – but this year visitors are confused.

Silvia, a tourist from Prague, who visited the Santa’s Holiday Village in Rovaniemi, says, “Super Hot-30c is killing me here. I came to escape from the heat.”

“I was expecting much colder and packed the wrong clothes.

The days in Rovaniemi are not currently 20 hours a day, so the sun still shines after 23:00 – the temperatures continue for longer.

Adita from London, waiting to find temperature below 20C, is to take a shaded patch in Santa Park. Orum I can’t even get out of the shadow, I feel like I’m burning when I do it, or he says.

“Something similar in the UK, but I was very surprised to see it in the Arctic circle,” he says. “Ice and snow are not separated for this amusement park and the entire Lapland.”

Elina, a ELF working in Santa’s posts, is also worried about the future of Lapland’s winters: “I wonder if the Heatwavs are now new.”

For Santa Claus, there is a problem of having to wear a heavy costume every day of the year.

At the moment, after the air starts to cool, it only goes out in the evening, otherwise it is at risk of getting heat impact within 10 minutes.

“Of course, a warm summer may be very nice for some, but I prefer cold and snow,” he says. “Winter is better.”